AAB is a national professional association whose members are clinical laboratory directors, owners, supervisors, managers, medical technologists, medical laboratory technicians, physician office laboratory technicians and phlebotomists. AAB also has three specialized membership sections for laboratory professionals: the College of Reproductive Biology (CRB), the Environmental Biology and Public Health Section (EBPH) and the National Independent Laboratory Association (NILA).
AAB is committed to the pursuit of excellence in clinical laboratory services by enhancing the professional skills of each of its members; promoting more efficient and productive operations; offering external quality control programs; collaborating with other professional associations and government agencies; promoting safe laboratory practices; and educating legislators, regulators, and the general public about clinical laboratory tests and procedures.
MT(AAB) Medical Technologist Disciplines and Qualifications
Individuals may be certified as an MT(AAB) in up to seven (7) disciplines. The first five (5) disciplines listed below are included in the Generalist MT(AAB) certification, but an individual may also apply for MT(AAB) certification in just one or several of these disciplines:
An individual may apply for certification in just one discipline, several disciplines, or all eight (8) disciplines. The discipline(s) in which an individual is certified will be listed on the AAB Board of Registry certificate and certification card forwarded to successful applicants.
To be certified as MT(AAB), an individual must pass the appropriate AAB Board of Registry examination AND meet at least one (1) of the following requirements:
These revised Medicare/CLIA 67 regulations include individuals who passed the HHS (formerly HEW) Proficiency Examination for medical technologists and those who had ten (10) years of full-time experience prior to January 1, 1968.
NOTE: Applicants for MT(AAB) in embyrology must also document the performance of 30 assisted reproductive technology (ART) laboratory procedure(s) in humans.
Individuals who lack the documented performance of 30 ART laboratory procedures in humans may still challenge the MT(AAB) examination. Upon passing the examination, these individuals will be designated medical technologist-provisional [MT-P(AAB)] until such time as they complete 30 ART laboratory procedures in humans, at which time the provisional status will be removed.
AAB - Frequently Asked Questions:
If you fail one discipline on the Generalist examination, you fail the entire examination. Therefore, if there are disciplines that you are weak in, you may want to take the individual discipline(s) examination. However, if you recently completed an MT or MLT training program, you may want to challenge the Generalist examination so that you can be certified in the five major technical disciplines.
Individual discipline examinations are scored by discipline. If you correctly answer the minimum number needed to pass (60% of 70 questions), you pass in that discipline. If you fail a discipline(s), you only need to retake the discipline(s) you failed. However, you must pass the Basic Knowledge discipline before you can be certified in any technical discipline.
Example of score for Generalist MT/MLT examination:
Subject No. of Questions Minimum Correct Answers Required
Number Needed
To Pass:
Overall Score for Exam 240 144 (60%) 136 Fail
This individual needed to score at least 60% in Basic Knowledge, and did. The individual also needed to score at least 50% in each of the five technical disciplines, which he/she did except for the discipline of Microbiology. This alone caused the individual to fail the entire Generalist examination. In addition, the individual needed to score at least 60% overall, which he/she did not do. This, by itself, would also cause the individual to fail the entire examination.
*The preceding Information was obtained from the American Association of Bioanalyst. Please contact the AAB for more detailed information.